


Fox, Queen of Britain (And Marcus' Heart)

by FrostOnGalway



Category: The Eagle of the Ninth - Rosemary Sutcliff
Genre: Character Study, Courtship, Cute, F/M, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:07:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22731469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostOnGalway/pseuds/FrostOnGalway
Summary: Marcus has lots of metaphors for Cottia, but he has to combine them all to describe how much he loves her.Just a fluffy little thing.
Relationships: Marcus Flavius Aquila/Cottia
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Fox, Queen of Britain (And Marcus' Heart)

**Author's Note:**

> Not my typical content, I know. But I needed a break from all the Star Wars feelings.

It is true that Marcus did not think of Cottia much while he searched for the eagle. His attention was consumed by the quest. The day to day of traveling, healing, making camp, and searching—always searching—for news of the eagle or the legion had swept him along and he had not thought of Calleva or its inhabitants.

He had come home then, quietly triumphant but weary from skin to bone. After the eagle was sealed away and there was no one else who need hear their story repeated again, the last dregs of strength within him had fled. Every day had been a Sisyphean effort. He had thought of Cottia only in the briefest terms, to wish for her companionship and happier times.

She came back when the spring and Marcus’ strength also returned. But the child he knew was a woman now. As he realized that, he saw a future before him without the drudgery of a secretary’s work. He had lost that future just as quickly, but then the letter had come. He could keep Esca, Cub could stay, and he could remain in Britain. Cottia could continue at his side. True, Marcus would have to release his last chance at returning to Etruria. Somehow, the price seemed smaller now.

For the first time in a long time, the longing that filled him was replaced by hope. As they sat in the garden, speaking of the future with Esca, he could not stop himself from looking again and again at her hair. She had used to wear it loose, wrapped in a mantle on chilly days. The coronal braid round her head left her neck bare. It was a proud neck, the neck of a queen.

He thought of Cottia’s hair often in the days that followed. It was rich in texture and color as a fox’s pelt. Marcus imagined pulling the pins from it. It would be silky between his fingers. He pictured it flowing free down her back, swaying as she slipped through the woods.

When she rested her head on his shoulder, he reached up to tuck the wisps behind her ears. He let his arm drop to rest around her. A warm giddiness like a little too much wine filled him. Her small hand covered his. His skin was nipped by the spring air, but where Cottia touched him Marcus was warm.

Stephanos came shuffling into the garden and they sprang apart. He scuffled by without noticing them. Cottia looked up at him and Marcus felt his face color to match hers. “Perhaps we should go inside,” he suggested. “Sassticca can get us something warm to drink.”

“That sounds lovely.”

Sassticca gave them warm milk and also soup. She complained that Marcus had gotten thin again. “You will have to take special care to feed him well when you are married,” she told Cottia.

Marcus grimaced and Cottia laughed.

He walked her back through the garden to her uncle’s house. “I will see you tomorrow,” he said. “But first Esca and I are going to take that sword to the smith’s.”

“I will be here,” she said.

There was a look in her eyes, a promise. Marcus cupped her cheek. He wondered what she was thinking.

Cottia turned back in her uncle’s doorway. He waved. As he turned to go back into his own uncle’s house, something tickled his arm. Marcus looked down to find a hair that had caught on his tunic. He lifted it away and admired the copper-golden glint of it in the sunlight.


End file.
